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‘Vice-ridden’ tour lets students glimpse their future
Chocolate pieces (opens in new window)
Drugs, beer, chocolate and chips played a key role in giving SAC students on a recent study tour a glimpse of what their futures may hold – but rest assured it was all above board!
Lecturers Chris Leggate and Lesley Howie led the nine first and third year Applied Biosciences students on the three-day tour of companies and government laboratories to illustrate the career opportunities in the plant science and food science sectors.
First stop on the tour was MacFarlane Smith, an Edinburgh-based pharmaceutical company that produces products including morphine extracted from opium poppies and the Alzheimer’s drug galantamine from daffodil bulbs. Next stop was to the city’s Caledonian Brewery to explore the science involved in making its famous beer.
It was then on to Nestle in York – a vast chocolate factory where the wondrous smell hit the group as soon as they stepped off their minibus. It was there that, as students watched chocolate bars being made, one of the world’s great mysteries was unravelled – how Nestle gets the bubbles get into an Aero!
Overcoming their reluctance to leave chocolate heaven, the group then headed to McCain Foods Ltd in Scarborough, another huge factory producing an almost unimaginable quantity of chips for the nation’s dinner plates.
With the vices out of the way, the group made an information-packed visit to the The Food and Environment Research Agency. Here, the students learned about research into plant pests and diseases, the work of the national bee unit, plant health activities and the organisation’s role in ensuring food safety. They also enjoyed a look around the Stockbridge Technology Centre which undertakes field and glasshouse crop trials and operates a plant clinic laboratory.
Michael Cunningham, a third year BSc Applied Bioscience (Food Science) student at Ayr said: “The trip has been the highlight of the course for me. Every visit was worth its weight in gold and has opened my eyes wide to the possible career paths that may be followed in the vast agri/ food industry.”
Chris Leggate, Applied Bioscience Programme Leader, said: “Study tours are an important part of SAC education programmes and we aim to make them as interesting and enjoyable as possible for our students. The tours complement the information that students gain in lectures and from background reading while allowing them to see for themselves the wide range of career opportunities our programmes offer.”